It’s tough to have the drive to keep dancing while we are under such harsh conditions. With the COVID-19 pandemic still causing issues in many countries, as dancers, we find ourselves prioritising life over dance. But in this blog post, I’d like to present to you the top 3 reasons I’ve found that you need to keep dancing.

1. It gets you off the couch.

Let’s be honest, it can be tough to get up and move off the couch. Especially when you’ve just discovered a new series to binge watch on the TV. But before you watch that next episode, how good would it feel if between each episode, you didn’t get up to just get another drink or potty break, but you also danced, or swayed or even just bopped on the spot to a song?

Pretty good right? So why not give it a go? You might even find maybe your favourite song on YouTube and start down a “YouTube Rabbit Hole” of finding new songs you’ve not heard in a long time, or at all!

2. Music Calms the Mind

There’s a reason they say “Music tames the savage beast.”. Music speaks to us on a very sub conscious level, the right track (which varies for everyone), can calm the mind, lower blood pressure and slow a racing pulse. While it’s not a medical treatment that can be relied upon in a high pressure situation, it can be used to help take your mind away from what’s causing you anxiety for the length of a song or two.

Dancers are a visual version of music. So when you dance, you become the music. It comes out every part of your body. I saw an amazing meme the other day which said, “If music is how we fill space, then dance is how we fill time.”. Live that. Be that.

3. In Dance Comes Freedom.

Where do you go in your mind when you dance? I go to a place where there is no pandemic. There is no sickness. There is no famine, no hate, no politics.

There is a feeling of joy, of freedom. Of boundless movement and precise moments. Of all the options to move any part of my body, and direction from the music on which part to move. It’s all a part of me and me a part of it.

Why would you want to be anywhere else?

Why do you dance? Wait, no… better question; why aren’t you dancing?

Let yourself free. Get up and dance. Or even just sit on the couch and sway, enjoy the feeling of the movement take over you with the minimal amount of effort for maximum amount of return.